It is conventionally known to form corn based tortilla which is typically a round flat planar area of material, about which a filler may be wrapped. It is known that the shape may be made into a bowl and then fried to make a taco salad vessel. It can also be formed into a “U” shape to form a shell for adding toppings to form a regular taco.
It is also known to add material to a tortilla and to wrap it tightly into a cylindrical roll, followed by frying until the corn outer taco covering has a hard consistency. Beef or chicken is typically utilized as a filler. The result has been popularly referred to as a “taquito” which is a word meaning “little taco”. Hereafter, the term flauta (expanse of soft corn taco material or flour taco material) will be used, even though other edible material such as soy, pastry, bread, egg, just to name a few an be used. Problems with this food preparation include thermal and oil absorption problems.
Thermal problems arise from several sources, including the thickness of the material to be hardened on cooking, temperature of the oil, water content and starting temperature of the stuffing rolled with the flauta, and whether the stuffing is already cooked or whether it must be cooked in the shell. In some cases where the stuffing has high water content, the stuffing explodes upon frying and destroys the tightness of the roll. Where the stuffing expands or air is introduced, they may require longer to cook the material used for stuffing.
Another thermal problem arises from the shape of the flauta itself. Forming a tube from a round expanse of flauta translates to a thicker middle than at the ends. Where long cooking time is required, the thinner ends can become overdone when exposed to the hot oil for a time sufficient to thermally penetrate the middle section and cook the stuffing.
Oil absorption is another problem. Some stuffing material has a significant affinity for the oil causing the resulting taquito to hold a significant volume of oil. Fried flauta already has a some oil content, but a stuffing such as meat can wick significant amounts of oil into its inner volume and hold the oil, even against significant draining. Some types of entrained oil can further harden into a semi-solid at room temperature.
What is needed is a system which eliminates, to the extent possible, uneven cooking, the deleterious effects of different types of stuffing, prevents oil entrapment, promotes draining, and facilitates the use of a wider variety of food stuffing including stuffings which don't need cooking and for which cooking would destroy the stuffing.